Monday Evening in Chiluvuru

Greetings from Chiluvuru. We have found a shop in Chiluvuru with one computer with a dial up connection!

We have had a wonderful but very busy last two days. Sunday morning pastor Gopala Rao took us to another church across town. We expected it to last about 1 and a half to 2 hours. 3 and a half hours later we got up and left before it was over.

Sunday afternoon Troy observed 4 cataract surgeries. By observed, I mean that he was in the operating room with a front row seat. The doctor even invited him to look through the microscope to see what the procedure looked like from his perspective. We all think that he should become an eye surgeon now.

Sunday evening we had church at the clinic Gopala Rao invited me to preach. Immanale, Nagesh and another visitor all took turns trying to translate. Troy and I both commented later about the times that I would say a lot and the translation would be very short and sometimes I would say only a couple of words and the translation would take a couple of minutes. I am not sure exactly what I told everyone!

Today we have been doing a lot of home visits. We started at Sweathie's house... Jessica and Christy had sent some things for her in remembrance of their visit here last year. Then we went to see Mary and Hepsiba who used to work at the clinic. We visited with Mary but Hepsiba was out of town getting treatment for TB. Please pray for her. Then we met Lakshmi and Revithi and went to the RCM (Roman Catholic Mission) as they were having a festival today. Went to mass with about 1000 other people from Chiluvuru (not exaggerating!) and witnessed some very high up leaders in the Catholic church performing mass. It is their local celebration of three kings day.

After a rest we visited a number of homes of people from the church. Revithi and Nagesh went with us. Revithi said that we only went to see the new people. The one exception was Venkayama who is older and in very poor health. She was not able to come to church yesterday. She was one of the first members of the church.

The RCM church finished their day with a big procession through town. Ox carts carried a statue of Mary and the infant Jesus. Horns were blaring. Fireworks exploding. People shouting. Quite a spectacle.

Enough for one day. Thanks for your interest in our journey and your prayers.